Astronomical Observing at Fishcreek - Friday 7/18/2008 Tonight's event will, again, be somewhat limited by a nearly full Moon the entire night. We will be able to see the beautiful planets Saturn and Jupiter, colorful double stars, open clusters made up of hundreds of stars, globular clusters comprised of hundreds of thousands of stars. Unfortunately, the planetary nebula formed by dying stars, diffuse nebula and emission nebula where stars are being born, and galaxies will be rendered invisible to us by the brightness of the full Moon. Saturn is beautiful beyond words! If you've never seen Saturn through a telescope, you owe it to yourself to do so. It's said that one picture is worth a thousand words, but no picture can match the majesty of the real thing! Jupiter is visible, if you stay after midnight when it will be high enough to clear the trees to our east. This is an ideal time to view Jupiter. It reached opposition on July 9th and is still about as close to us as it ever gets. With a high-power view through the telescopes, details in the cloud bands is possible, and the four Galilean moons actually appear as disks instead of just point light sources. Jupiter clears the trees to the east of our observing field at a conveniently early hour now (see the Outer Solar System to see why this is so). We hope to see you here for a night under the stars - now in our thirteenth year! The following Sun, Moon and planet detail was calculated as it will be on Friday 7/18/08 at 10:07:35pm (nautical twilight). Source: Guide8 software available from www.projectpluto.com All times are shown in EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) as seen from Stow, Ohio. Above Horizon: Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Pluto Below Horizon: Sun Mercury Venus Uranus Neptune Sun data: Rise 6:05am Transit: 1:32pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets 8:58pm Constellation: Gemini Distance: 1.01620892 AU = 152,022,691 km = 94,462,522 miles = 8.46 light-minutes Magnitude: -26.7 Apparent size: 31.48 arcminutes in angular diameter Civil twilight ends at 9:27pm ( When the Sun is 6 degrees below the horizon ) Nautical twilight ends at 10:08pm ( When the Sun is 12 degrees below the horizon ) Astronomical twilight ends at 10:54pm ( When the Sun is 18 degrees below the horizon ) Fall Equinox: Monday Sept 22, 2008 at 11:45am (when Fall will officially be here) Next Solar Eclipse: Partial eclipse (>80%) on Monday August 21, 2017 2:30pm EDT On 7/18/2008 at 10:07:35pm the Sun will be 12º below the west-northwest horizon Moon data: Rise: 9:19pm Transit: 2:16am July 19 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets: 7:21am July 19 Constellation: Capricornus Phase: 99.36% illuminated (waning gibbous) 15.99 days since last New Moon Distance: 0.00264498 AU = 395,683 km = 245,866 miles = 1.32 light-seconds Magnitude: -12.4 Apparent size: 30.19 arcminutes in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 170.78 degrees (morning sky) Next Phase: Last Quarter Moon on Friday July 25, 2008 at 2:42pm Next Lunar eclipse: Total eclipse (100%) on Sunday Sept 27, 2015 at 10:10pm EDT On 7/18/2008 at 10:07:35pm the Moon will be 6.2º above the east-southeast horizon Mercury data: Rise: 5:02am Transit: 12:38pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets: 8:14pm Constellation: Gemini Phase: 86.20% illuminated Distance: 1.21771783 AU = 182,167,994 km = 113,193,945 miles = 10.14 light-minutes Magnitude: -1.2 Apparent size: 5.52 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 12.13 degrees (morning sky) Next maximum elongations... Evening: Thursday, September 11, 2008 (26° 52' 17") Morning: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 (18° 19' 05") On 7/18/2008 at 10:07:35pm Mercury will be 16.6º below the northwest horizon Venus data: Rise: 6:57am Transit 2:18pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 9:38pm Constellation: Cancer Phase: 98.13% illuminated Distance: 1.68901164 AU = 252,672,545 km = 157,003,442 miles = 14.07 light-minutes Magnitude: -3.9 Bright, visible in the morning well before sunrise Apparent size: 9.88 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 11.05 degrees (evening sky) Next maximum elongations... Evening: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 (47° 07' 21") Morning: Friday, June 05, 2009 (45° 51' 07") On 7/18/2008 at 10:07:35pm Venus will be 5.9º below the west-northwest horizon Mars data: Rise: 9:50am Transit 4:26pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 11:02pm Constellation: Leo Phase: 95.21% illuminated Distance: 2.22109711 AU = 332,271,398 km = 206,463,877 miles = 18.5 light-minutes Magnitude: 1.7 Apparent size: 4.21 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 43.71 degrees (evening sky) Next close approach of Mars is on Friday, Jan 29, 2010 On 7/18/2008 at 10:07:35pm Mars will be 9.1º above the west horizon No, Mars was *not* "...as big as a Full Moon on August 27!" Please see the following links for more information about this annual 'Mars Hoax' http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/8708182.html http://www.snopes.com/science/mars.asp http://www.hoax-slayer.com/mars-earth-close.html http://www.universetoday.com/2007/07/25/will-the-mars-look-as-big-as-the-moon-on-august-27-nope/ Jupiter data: Rise: 8:06pm Transit 0:46am July 19 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 5:27am July 19 Constellation: Sagittarius Phase: 99.97% illuminated Distance: 4.17196428 AU = 624,116,973 km = 387,808,312 miles = 34.75 light-minutes Magnitude: -2.7 Apparent size: 47.25 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 169.43 degrees (evening sky) On 7/18/2008 at 10:07:35pm Jupiter will be 16.2º above the southeast horizon Jupiter satellite events tonight: None tonight Next transit of the Great Red Spot: Saturday July 19, 2008 at 2:06am GRS longitude: 124.0 Jupiter satellite events: None tonight Saturn data: Rise: 9:28am Transit 4:12pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 10:55pm Constellation: Leo Phase: 99.88% illuminated Distance: 10.08134062 AU = 1,508,147,090 km = 937,119,167 miles = 1.4 light-hours Magnitude: 0.8 Apparent size: 16.49 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 39.54 degrees (evening sky) On 7/18/2008 at 10:07:35pm Saturn will be 7.8º above the west horizon Uranus data: Rise: 11:17pm Transit 5:09am July 19 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 11:01am July 19 Constellation: Aquarius Phase: 99.96% illuminated Distance: 19.50725971 AU = 2,918,244,516 km = 1,813,313,097 miles = 2.71 light-hours Magnitude: 5.8 Apparent size: 3.61 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 124.33 degrees (morning sky) On 7/18/2008 at 10:07:35pm Uranus will be 14.2º below the east-northeast horizon Neptune data: Rise: 10:04pm Transit: 3:19am July 19 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 8:35am July 19 Constellation: Capricornus Phase: 99.99% illuminated Distance: 29.12714254 AU = 4,357,358,503 km = 2,707,537,082 miles = 4.04 light-hours Magnitude: 7.8 Apparent size: 2.34 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 153.23 degrees (morning sky) On 7/18/2008 at 10:07:35pm Neptune will be 0.6º below the east horizon Pluto (Dwarf Planet aka Asteroid 134340) data: Rise: 6:29pm Transit 11:32pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 4:36am July 19 Constellation: Sagittarius Phase: 99.99% illuminated Distance: 30.59504473 AU = 4,576,953,545 km = 2,843,987,117 miles = 4.25 light-hours Magnitude: 14.1 Apparent size: 0.11 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 151.68 degrees (evening sky) On 7/18/2008 at 10:07:35pm Pluto will be 28.4º above the southeast horizon